Monthly Archives: April 2005

Re-connecting remote families. “FamilyScrapbook is a service and an application. It relies on a third party to provide storage space, to which different devices will be connected. On the user’s side, it’s an application — for the computer, the cell phone or the television — that allows a quick view of new postings, facilitates fast uploads and has browsing capabilities.”andreea chelaru

‘Canadian Idol’ Raises Its Profile. “Beginning next month, CTV will give bloggers the ability to offer their views about the show. “Each person will have their own space, and they can come back and actually comment on the show as the show plays out and the competition goes on,” Smith said. “We will still have the administration that we can accept or reject blogs, but I believe the plan is to just let them loose. We are going to have to moderate it to see how it goes.”EWeek

Net-illiterate ‘failing children’. “Parents who restrict web use too much may make their children less aware of online risks, such as those from chatrooms, the report said. It called for literacy initiatives aimed at parents to help bridge the divide as well as an increase in going online together.”BBC NEWS

Yahoo! My Web saves and searches bookmarks. “My Web adds a “Save” link next to Yahoo! search results, where you can store a result and add a note to it (“this is Jane’s weblog”). My Web will save full copies of pages and let you search only your bookmarks; it also lets you create folders (work, gadgets I want, software to try out) and mark those folders as public or private.”Lifehacker

Podcasting Killed the Radio Star. “The world’s first all-podcast radio station will be launched on May 16 by Infinity Broadcasting […]. Infinity plans to convert San Francisco’s 1550 KYCY, an AM station, to listener-submitted content. The station, previously devoted to a talk-radio format, will be renamed KYOURadio.”Wired News

Parking scooter scans for stolen cars. “Sacramento police officers are now using a high-tech scooter to help them find stolen cars. Using infrared cameras, GPS and license plate recognition software, the scooter’s computer can tell cops everything about your parking habits.”we make money not art

Celebrity Blog Set to Launch. “Norman Mailer, David Mamet, Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Walter Cronkite, Gwyneth Paltrow, Harold Evans and Tina Brown are just a few of the 250-plus names recruited by Arianna Huffington, commentator, one-time Republican and candidate for governor of California, to create an über-blog that will offer a round-the-clock commentary on our life and times.”PSFK

Fuel Cell Converts Biomass into Hydrogen. “The novel design, with energy requirements amounting to less than 5 percent of those of a cell phone, can coax pure hydrogen out of biomass that is not suitable for natural fermentation processes.”Scientific American

Prison without bars. “Windows in this prison will not have iron griddles; they will be made of tempered glass. Each prisoner will wear a jacket with an attached RFID tag and a display in a security guard room shows whereabouts of each prisoner.”RFID in Japan

UK Election Manifestos annotated. “Mark Simpkins, Richard Pope and Gavin Bell have built a site that presents the UK election manifestos for the three main parties (Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats) in a way that allows anyone to comment on the content, right there, next to the content.”Smart Mobs